Indeed. Of course, many will say hes just a comedian/celebrity so who cares what he says ? Its not as if the man has a wonderful staff that gets facts and stuff... Or that he is a rather smart guy who call out bs on both sides

The Lone Gunman:fusillade762: Stewart's smackdown of Romney's "We wanted Obama to succeed" line was epic.

I wish actual news agencies would call it like it is.

News outlet's biggest fear is loss of access.

Which makes it that much more amazing how many major Republicans continue to go on his show.

I guess that's what happens when you come to expect grown-up talk in interviews, rather than a bloviating shout-fest.

See, that's why I just don't buy the "loss of access" line that people use to dismiss the weakness of this generation of journalists. Colbert and Stewart hit everybody, on both sides, for saying or doing stupid.things and it doesn't stop anyone from going on their shows.

Good politicians go where people will watch them speak, and they'll forgive a lot if it means pushing their message and personas to a wider audience.

alienated:fusillade762: I wish actual news agencies would call it like it is.

Indeed. Of course, many will say hes just a comedian/celebrity so who cares what he says ? Its not as if the man has a wonderful staff that gets facts and stuff... Or that he is a rather smart guy who call out bs on both sides

Also a comedian that no one should take seriously:

/Only if you're calling him out of course, otherwise he's a luminary and leader

The Lone Gunman:fusillade762: Stewart's smackdown of Romney's "We wanted Obama to succeed" line was epic.

I wish actual news agencies would call it like it is.

News outlet's biggest fear is loss of access.

Which makes it that much more amazing how many major Republicans continue to go on his show.

I guess that's what happens when you come to expect grown-up talk in interviews, rather than a bloviating shout-fest.

News channels should try a no-nonsense smack-down on this play-the-refs bullsh*t. Any whining about media bias and your party doesn't get covered at all until a written apology is submitted by the offending political organization. Bet a couple internet-dollars that the RNC would blink first.

FTFA:Among the adults 18-34, men 18-34 and men 18-24 demographics, Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report were more viewed and higher-rated than Fox News, CNN and MSNBC in the 11 PM-midnight time slot.

Wow, shocking. After the events were over, people tuned into the shows that would mock the previous night's festivities.

And here's the thing, even with as long as the Daily Show and Colbert have been on, people still don't know they're being mocked. This Young Republican girl that I've known since she was in elementary school was shown in the Friday Daily Show segment making fun of the lack of diversity in the GOP, and was all thrilled about being shown on there, completely oblivious to the fact it was all a mockery.

erik-k:alienated: fusillade762: I wish actual news agencies would call it like it is.

Indeed. Of course, many will say hes just a comedian/celebrity so who cares what he says ? Its not as if the man has a wonderful staff that gets facts and stuff... Or that he is a rather smart guy who call out bs on both sides

Also a comedian that no one should take seriously:

/Only if you're calling him out of course, otherwise he's a luminary and leader

Of ALL the pictures you could choose from, THAT portrait is what you choose?

Bashar and Asma's Infinite Playlist:FTFA: Among the adults 18-34, men 18-34 and men 18-24 demographics, Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report were more viewed and higher-rated than Fox News, CNN and MSNBC in the 11 PM-midnight time slot.

Wow, shocking. After the events were over, people tuned into the shows that would mock the previous night's festivities.

(1) They're literally more trustworthy, in that while they have a political agenda that drives what they focus on, the stuff that they focus on will in fact be fact instead of fabrication, and it will be related to actual policy in some way. This can't be said about any of the news networks at this point.

(2) The show's primary joke is to take something that a politician says, look back through various media archives, and directly reference their previous statements on the subject. The fact that this is so uncommon in "real" news that the simple fact that they do it counts as a joke tells you basically all you need to know about the reliability of 'serious' media. In the mid 1900s that would have been called "basic journalism" and it was what you did before you even started investigating.

(3) It's not about The Daily Show and Colbert Report being good. Having watched most of the raw footage/original coverage, there are certainly things they miss and points they fail to make. It's about everyone else being farking terrible at journalism at the moment. Sort of an allegory for how the Democratic party ain't great, but they look good because the GOP is uniformly horrible without exception. And in both cases it's the result of willful decisions, so I don't feel the need to pussyfoot about the issue. CNN/FN/etc aren't terrible because the science of journalism hasn't been worked out yet or because of some external factor beyond their control, it's because they made a conscious decision to prioritize sensational bullshiat over news.

//Which, you know, isn't a new thing for the news media, Yellow Journalism in the 1920s was just as bad. There being precedent for the news utterly failing to inform doesn't make it any less annoying, though.//Sorry for wall of text, on an all-nighter at work and I'm hopped to the gills on coffee because I'm not young enough to do it on willpower alone anymore.

Happy Hours:11 PM - Midnight: when people who have jobs are in bed sleeping.

Well statistically speaking, you're not wrong. 18-30's have higher than average unemployment. However I was more alluding to the fact that you're condensing the 18-30s from three different networks into a Comedy Central feed, of which there is only one. You're not going to pick and choose where you watch The Daily Show.

Stewart and Colbert call people out, like journalists should. I've seen them go after the entire political spectrum. The last few years have been mainly going after R's because the Republican party has lost their collective minds, but they still call out liberals when they need to. That's why people trust them more than other news sources. That and they're both hilarious.

Jim_Callahan:It's not about The Daily Show and Colbert Report being good. Having watched most of the raw footage/original coverage, there are certainly things they miss and points they fail to make. It's about everyone else being farking terrible at journalism at the moment.

This bears repeating, but sarcasm is also a powerful weapon. Colbert's 2006 speech is still epic.

T-Servo:Jim_Callahan: It's not about The Daily Show and Colbert Report being good. Having watched most of the raw footage/original coverage, there are certainly things they miss and points they fail to make. It's about everyone else being farking terrible at journalism at the moment.

This bears repeating, but sarcasm is also a powerful weapon. Colbert's 2006 speech is still epic.

that and Stewarts' smackdown of Crossfire's Tucker Carlson should be forever enshrined in the Smithsonian vaults.

The Daily Show and Colbert Report are aired in our area at 8 & 8:30pm respectively, we TiVo both shows and watch them when time allows. We watch local news, but only for the weather report, and haven't watched network or cable news for many years unless a big event is happening, i.e., 9/11, Katrina, etc., then we usually limit viewing to CNN. I read two newspapers on-line every day and supplement that information with various web sites, blogs, and NPR. So far, so good, and I feel informed about the world I live in, so why change?

timswar:Good politicians go where people will watch them speak, and they'll forgive a lot if it means pushing their message and personas to a wider audience.

Good politicians also know how to hold their own against a tough interview. When someone goes on TDS and has a civil interview with Jon Stewart where they can give intelligent answers to tough questions, I might not switch my sides or agree with what they say but it certainly enables a level of respect for the person when they can rationally defend their position.

The shouting matches on various talk shows fail to do that as people resort to emotions rather than reason, and the puff-pieces on regular news shows fail to do that as it's rare to a politician to be required to defend their stances beyond offering some empty talking points. Both failing systems contribute (IMO) to the low level of political discourse we have today, where facts, reason and respect are often absent, and bad politicians can thrive.

There are a few flashes in the pan of real journalism lately but I'm not holding my breath for a journalistic renaissance just yet.

we should add an amendment to the constitution. the debates are mandatory for qualifying for office. Each candidate has to take questions from the other party's representative. each candidate will be hooked up to a lie detector with a full array of biometric sensors. If you lie an alarm sounds and you receive a shock. with each lie the voltage increases.

erik-k:alienated: fusillade762: I wish actual news agencies would call it like it is.

Indeed. Of course, many will say hes just a comedian/celebrity so who cares what he says ? Its not as if the man has a wonderful staff that gets facts and stuff... Or that he is a rather smart guy who call out bs on both sides

Also a comedian that no one should take seriously:

[newspaper.li image 234x293]

/Only if you're calling him out of course, otherwise he's a luminary and leader

Jesus Christ, how much did Rush pay the touch-up guy? 'Cuz that guy earned a fortune with that picture.

Don't Troll Me Bro!:Stewart and Colbert call people out, like journalists should. I've seen them go after the entire political spectrum. The last few years have been mainly going after R's because the Republican party has lost their collective minds, but they still call out liberals when they need to. That's why people trust them more than other news sources. That and they're both hilarious.

I've seen the point made that good comedy is in how one reveals facts and displaying truths of the world in an unconventional light. This is why the GOP is just not funny because they don't live with the set of facts the rest of the world lives with. It's also why TDS was able to make fun of Obama in a very biting and relevant way tonight with the "Yes we can, but..." segment.

foo monkey:Hueg_Redd: Michelle Obama just gave a heartfelt, wonderful speech at the DNC and I think Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are two of the best personalities ever to grace TV.

That is all

She killed it tonight. Killed it. I know it was practiced and rehearsed, but good acting comes from real emotion. She KILLED it tonight.

It helps that she doesn't pretend to be something she isn't. She's actually a well-educated woman who has stepped back from her career in order to focus on her children. She's actually from a middle-class/upper-middle-class background and is actually kind of new to the whole fame and fortune bit.

She doesn't pretend to be Mrs. Woman-of-the-people, she doesn't pretend to be more down-to-earth than she is, and she doesn't pretend she's not rich as all hell nowadays. And as a result, I have no problem whatsoever with her being a rich person who's a bit out of touch and thinks about the children a bit more than I'd like. Romney should take notes. Both Romneys.

mainstream media not immediately fact-checking speeches and comments really doesn't help their cause. when candidates can straight up lie on national tv and expect to get away with it for a news cycle or two and people will forget about it because the next new story will bury the coverage, it's no longer "the" news....it's crap.

wildcardjack:When Comedy Central makes fun of something they have to be right. It's not libel if it's true.

Not really. They are protected by both parody defenses and the requirement to prove actual malice (which means the speaker knew or should have known their statement was false). Truth is a defense that is almost never used in the context of defamation.

Neeek:wildcardjack: When Comedy Central makes fun of something they have to be right. It's not libel if it's true.

Not really. They are protected by both parody defenses and the requirement to prove actual malice (which means the speaker knew or should have known their statement was false). Truth is a defense that is almost never used in the context of defamation.

Yeah, truth is an absolute defense but it is hardly the only one. Parody is almost always a winner.